


End of the Arrow

by McFreeky



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-16
Updated: 2014-04-16
Packaged: 2018-01-19 15:18:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1474528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/McFreeky/pseuds/McFreeky
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A sound drew Oliver's attention, and he quickly realized things were about to change.</p>
            </blockquote>





	End of the Arrow

Oliver stepped off the elevator after a long day at the office. He headed to the car with Diggle was just a step behind him.

"Did that situation resolve itself?" He asked his partner.

"No, sir. It'll need your personal attention."

Oliver ground his teeth. He had somewhere to be tonight. He didn't have time to be running around on rooftops and stopping drug deals in green leather. Some days, he wished he could just take a day off.

"Let's get this done as quick as possible," he said as he went through the front door of Queen Consolidated.

"What? Got a hot date?"

"Actually, yes. Going to go watch some theater. I have to meet-”

A crashing sound stopped Oliver’s words. He looked to his right to see a car careening toward him and Diggle. Oliver shoved his friend out of the way before jumping, hoping to clear the front end and land on the windshield.

He wasn’t fast enough. The car slammed into his leg, and Oliver tumbled over the vehicle and fell off the back. He felt a sickening pop as he landed.

He stood, ready for whatever attack may come from the people in the car that just hit him. He tried putting weight on his right leg, but it wouldn’t support him. So Oliver did his best to steady himself on the one.

Diggle made his way to him, gun drawn and pointed at the car that had crashed into him. “Are you okay, Mr. Queen?”

Oliver nodded, still keeping his focus on the vehicle. The doors could open at any moment with men rushing out with guns ready to kill him.

“Oliver, sit down,” Diggle commanded.

The man’s tone made him look to his friend. His eyes were down, firmly planted on something near his feet.

Oliver looked down and saw what drew his attention. His lower leg was twisted unnaturally inward, and his kneecap was no longer where it should have been.

The adrenaline seemed to leave him at that moment. He gritted back a cry as the fire from his leg hit him full force. He fell into Diggle, clutching at his suit as he slowly eased Oliver down to the sidewalk.

“I’ll call an ambulance.”

Oliver only nodded. His mouth was locked shut as he tried to will away as much of the pain as possible. He knew he had felt worse before, but he couldn’t recall when. His mind was too focused on his leg at the moment.

He fought off the shock until he was lifted into the ambulance on a stretcher. Only when he was safely on his way to the hospital with Diggle at his side did he let unconsciousness claim him.

* * *

The first sensation he felt as he came back was a hand holding his own. He felt it shift but adamant to not let go.

“Oliver?”

He opened his eyes to one of the most beautiful sights he had the privilege of witnessing. It was only rivaled by their kids.

He smiled at her. “Hey.”

“Hey,” Felicity answered. Her eyebrows were knit with worry, but he could see the relief that was slowly taking over. “How you feeling?”

“Sore,” he stated honestly. His leg felt stiff, and a dull ache had replaced the fire he felt before. “What time is it?”

“It’s late.”

Oliver started to sit up. “We have to get going then. Steph’s play is tonight. I told her-”

She placed her hand on his chest and stopped him. “It’s been over for hours now. And you’re not going anywhere. You need rest.”

He lay back in bed. He knew she wasn’t pushing hard, but he was too weak to fight her. “She is going to be upset.”

Felicity shook her head. “She isn’t. When I told her why you couldn’t be there, she wanted to come and make sure you were okay.”

“You still went?”

“I knew you wouldn’t want me sitting here in the waiting room waiting for you while our daughter was performing. I made sure Diggle would text me if anything happened though.”

She was right. He was glad she didn't miss the play because of him. “I bet the worrying almost killed you.”

“You’d think I’d be used to it by now,” she said with a smile.

Oliver returned it. “Did you at least record it?”

Her eyebrow quirked. “Really? Do you really have to ask that?”

“Just making sure.”

The door opened, stopping any response, and a woman in a doctor’s coat walked in.

“Ah, Mr. Queen. You’re awake. How are you feeling?”

“Ready to leave,” he answered. “How bad is it, Dr…?”

“Cortez. Unfortunately, Mr. Queen, we can’t release you yet. The car that ran into you did quite a number on your leg. Your kneecap was shattered, and you tore nearly every ligament in your knee. The lack of support allowed your lower leg to twist the way it did. We had to do some reconstructive surgery already, and you’ll probably need more before it’s fully healed.

“Still, it could be worse. The damage tells us the impact was strong enough to break your femur. But, since you’re so fit, the muscles of your thigh were able to absorb enough of the force to protect it.”

“So that means I won’t be going rock climbing any time soon?”

Dr. Cortez sighed. “There’s a good chance you won’t ever be mountain climbing again. We’ll do what we can, but there’s a possibility you won’t have the full range of motion or strength from the leg. And it will most likely only worsen with age.”

She then checked on the bandages and cast wrapped around his leg while Oliver let himself digest what she had just told him for a moment.

"What happened to the driver?" Felicity asked when it was obvious he was too stuck in his own head.

"He died before the accident. He had a heart attack which was what caused his car to go out of control."

When the doctor was finished and finally left, Felicity turned to him and said, “Oliver, talk to me.”

“It’s over,” he said simply. He had stopped hiding his thoughts from her a long time ago. She could always pull them out of him anyway so why bother holding back.

“You always said you wished you could spend less time under the hood. Maybe this is a blessing in disguise.”

“I said I didn’t want to spend all my nights away from my family. I didn’t want to be forced to stop being the Arrow entirely.” His hand tightened around hers. He was letting his frustration show. “I need to be the Arrow. I’m not ready to give it up. Not yet.”

Felicity squeezed back. “You’ve been the Arrow for nearly twenty years now. You’ve saved this city from so many threats, I can’t even remember the number. You deserve a rest.”

“It’ll never be enough.”

She sighed and stood. He watched as she rounded the bed and took a seat next to him on his left side, away from his injured leg. “And it never will be enough for you. You’d still be doing this in your ninety’s if I let you get away with it. Imagine that. All the criminals in Starling City scared of a geriatrics patient.

“But I know you well enough to know that’s not the real reason you don’t want to stop being the Arrow. Oliver, when you came back from the island the first time, it changed you. And I don’t mean ‘Oh my god, I had to spend five years outside of civilization in a hellhole.’ I mean you were stripped bare, to your very base.

“I can’t imagine what that was like, seeing yourself for the first time without all the crap we carry from our lives and society. I also can’t imagine coming back here. To a place where everyone expects you to be the same person from before, the person that had a long, agonizing death while you were on the island.

“And I know you tried. You tried to be the brother and the son that went missing, but you couldn’t. The only part of you that felt real was the Arrow, and you threw yourself into being him. You needed him as much as the city did.

“But look at you now. You’re so much more than the Arrow. You’re a CEO of a thriving company, a philanthropist, a true brother and son, a husband, and a father. The Arrow is just a part of Oliver Queen. He isn’t all of you like he used to be, and he’s getting smaller every day.”

“That’s not true. I still spend nearly every night in the hood.”

Felicity’s head cocked sideways, and she gave him that look that told him he may have himself fooled, but she wasn’t having what he was serving.

“Oliver, when you found out the time just now, what was the first thing you were worried about?”

He opened his mouth but closed it just as fast when he realized what she was getting at.

She smirked. “That’s right. You were worried about missing Stephanie’s play. Not the large drug deal that you planned on stopping and were trying to keep me out of the loop on. Honestly, I don’t know why you even try to hide things from me. I can read you like an open book, and I still have access to all the computers in the foundry. Speedy stopped them if you were wondering. Pounds of cocaine are safely locked away in police custody now.

“But back to my point. The Arrow and his mission aren’t your top priority anymore, and, to be honest, I’m so grateful for that. Stephanie may look like me, but she’s as stubborn and energetic as you. I can’t keep up with her.”

He smiled, proud of his little troublemaker. “You only say that because you want me to take care of her while you hang out with Tommy. I still can’t believe you got him hooked on computers so young.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. He picked it up on his own.”

“Ha! So holding him as a baby while you dismantled a circuit board and explained all the parts to him was not some ploy to make our son a tech genius like his mom?”

“Never happened. You can’t prove anything.”

“Pretty sure I have a photo of you doing exactly that.”

“It’s gone.”

He looked at her incredulously.

“Really? You know I graduated from MIT. You think it’s hard for me to hack into your phone and delete pictures?”

Oliver knew she was joking. Felicity was just as much of a sap as he was when it came to their kids. She could never delete a photo with one of them in it.

It was then he knew she was right about the Arrow. It no longer held the top spot on his list of priorities, and he really didn’t want it to either. It took only one mention of their kids to make him forget everything vigilante related and ease into blissful happiness.

For the past twenty years, the Arrow had been a constant. He was there for him when everything else seemed to crumble around him. Oliver was terrified of letting that go, terrified that he would have nothing to cling to once he did. Felicity reminded him that was far from the truth.

He pulled her close, rising to meet her halfway with a kiss. Then, he rested his forehead on hers as a silent thank you.

“Just because you don’t jump around on rooftops and punch criminals into submission anymore doesn’t mean you’re failing this city,” Felicity whispered. “It just means you’ll have to find new ways to save it. And I’ll be here to help you.”

She kissed him once more before pulling away. “I have to get going. I’ll be back after I get the kids to school tomorrow.”

“I’m surprised you’re not staying.”

“You know how difficult it is to get Tommy up in the morning. Besides, even if I tried, you would eventually convince me to go home and get some sleep.”

He smiled. She knew him too well.

“Oh, I promised the kids I’d bring them by after school. So be prepared for that.”

Oliver nodded.

She stood, gathered her things, and made for the door.

“Felicity,” he said just as she was about to leave.

“Hm?”

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

**Author's Note:**

> So when I wrote The Final Arrow, it was supposed to be a oneshot. I was not intending to make a headcanon for Olicity, but it happened anyway. Darn you muse, coming up with ideas too interesting not to write out.


End file.
